"Probably just as much as you guys are thinking in your heads," Mealer said. "As much as you guys have been hearing it, we hear it even more. And for you guys, it's probably overbearing and redundant and things like that -- I'm sure, because I can see all the smiles when I brought it up -- but for us, that's why you come to Michigan.

"For us players, it's not redundant, it's not, 'OK we get it.' It's, 'Remember last year? We lost a game here, we lost a game there, and we kept ourselves out of that game.' So we accept the constant reminder of it."

Mealer said there's a picture of the Big Ten championship trophy in the team's Schembechler Hall meeting room. There are roses painted on the walls, a not-so-subtle reminder of the bowl that awaits the league's champion.

This one maybe a little more than most.

I'm not sure I can do this any longer, @umichcompliance. I started following Michigan's compliance feed for some reason. Maybe I needed more dry statements of things I can't do and have never even thought of doing in my life.

It's been a passionate affair so far, but I'm not sure if I can deal with the mindboggle on the regular. To wit:

Let's not forget, Dude—that keeping pictures… uh… items with the name, picture, or autograph of a currently enrolled student-athlete… on, uh, your official, you know, website… that ain't legal.

Burkhead may not play. Sounds like Nebraska tailback Rex Burkhead may sit out Saturday after tweaking an ACL sprain last weekend:

Huskers coach Bo Pelini said this aggravation isn't as bad as the one in the Ohio State game, but the repeated issues have him inclined to rest Burkhead for a week. Pelini said Burkhead is day to day and has improved since Saturday.

"He felt really good going into the [Northwestern] game, didn't have any issues in practice," Pelini said. "He's frustrated and obviously disappointed he's had to deal with it. It's been too bad."

Backup/co-starter Ameer Abdullah hasn't ben much of a drop-off: he's averaging almost 6 yards a carry on 86 attempts, with impressive output in the three Big Ten games he's played in—5.5 YPC. He's faster than Burkhead, albeit slighter. Former top 100 recruit Braylon Heard should also get some carries.

"Nation, I've always been a big fan of Michigan State football coach and scowling man most likely to tell kids to get the hell off his lawn, Mark Dantonio. His enduring sportsmanship, like getting into public feuds with 21 year old college kids by mocking their height, along with always looking out for the health and best interests of his players, evidenced by holding them out at least two plays when they get an on-field concussion, have made him a role model Spartan fans can be proud of before, during and after the burning of their couches."

Fourth line FTW. The top takeaway from Friday's one-off hockey game against Bentley was the fantastic play of what was nominally the fourth line of Andrew Copp, Zach Hyman, and Justin Selman. They scored twice, dominated play when on the ice, and must have locked themselves into additional playing time as Michigan kicks off their final CCHA campaign against Miami:

The line of Hyman, Copp and Selman has “really given our team a life,” according to Michigan coach Red Berenson.

“He told us what we needed to do to have a good week in practice,” Selman said. “He was making sure every day we were going as hard as we could. We kind of worked off what he was doing and followed in his footsteps.

Copp came from the same lineage as Danny Fardig—the guy on the USA NTDP roster who bounces from the U17s to U18s to fill in on the fourth line and never score—but has shown some soft hands early. Hyman played with a high energy level, as well. I haven't seen Selman enough to really get a read on him yet, but the line's performance speaks for itself.

I think the only deep ball in this game was out of an I-Form to a double-covered Jeremy Jackson. Gotta loosen those guys up—yeah, you might turn the ball over if you bomb it deep but if you're just punting in three plays anyway…

How Purdoed it. Doesn't work as well as "Purdon't," I guess, and is equally dumb. Anyway, Ross Fulton's latest breakdown of the Ohio State offense is even more interesting than normal since it deals with topics often found here in the aftermath of OSU's extensive struggles against the Purdue defense. Purdue loaded up to stop Miller, won a lot of battles on the line of scrimmage, and OSU could not punish Purdue cheating off the slot receivers. This sounds awfully familiar:

The Buckeye passing game was perhaps most successful when OSU could get their hurry-up offense going and catch Purdue in uncertainty. This led to the second Buckeye touchdown. But all too often Ohio State missed available opportunities. For instance, Devin Smith several times had man coverage beat. If Braxton simply leads him to the corner and lets him run under it, it was a potential touchdown.

More acutely, Ohio State was not able to punish Purdue for cheating off their slot receivers. It was not simply for a lack of trying. Miller sailed one bubble screen over Corey Brown's head. On the clip above, he held the ball a second too long, allowing the Purdue corner to make a nice play. But other times it appeared clear opportunities were available that OSU did not take advantage of. Traditionally, this has been an automatic check with Meyer and Herman. The offense will continue running the pre-called play but the QB will simply pull and throw the football. Perhaps Meyer & Co have not yet given Miller the ability to do so. But by allowing alley players to cheat into the box, a spread offense quickly loses the numbers advantage it gains from the QB run threat.

That's how you end up with 100 yards at halftime against Purdue. OSU started bashing straight ahead A-gap power from the pistol and running their veer a gap inside the crashing LBs, but Miller's exit cut their response short.

Hey hey!

OSU must find more consistent ways to punish a defense that cheats alley defenders. Whether it is with wide receiver screens or bootlegs, OSU cannot allow a defense that much free rein. OSU must not also let opposing defenses dissuade them from sticking to what they do well. Though this is somewhat counter to the previous point, I believe they work together. The Buckeyes must continue to work to establish their base run game and then use play-action to exploit an opposing defense.

Comment viewing options

So Ohio State now has upcoming home and homes scheduled with Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, TCU, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina, and we've got a ND series that's going away for an indefinite amount of time, a home and home with Utah, and home games with Oregon State and Colorado. Let's start beefing these schedules up before all interesting teams are gone.

Don't mean to be that guy but isn't 5/1/2006 go by day/month/year over there? I had a chemistry professor from their and that was there way marking dates. If that's January 5, then that has nothing on the UP. Either way I would prefer he stays over seas but he did say Columbus was pretty much a hell hole so you got that going for him.

Case may sound like a cupcake now, but Ohio State was only 11-10-2 against them and actually had a losing record against Western Reserve (Case's neighbor, combined as Case Western Reserve U in the 60s).

That a man experiencing a self-inflicted banishment to freakin' Siberia speaks of how miserable it is in Buckeye City, Buckeye aka Hell Incarnate aka Columbus Ohio aka We're So Gloomy People Would Rather Live in Freakin Siberia, OH.

I have never been to the state of Ohio but I am good friends with Jody Shelley who still lives in Columbus. He has lived in San Jose, NYC, Philly, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, and various other cities and says Columbus is by far his favorite, and thus he still resides there.

Now again, I have never been there myself but know one guy who lives there and several people who have visited and all have nice things to say about the city. I think in many cases we let our fandom taint reality, so much so that we even trash an entire city because a team we all distain plays their games there.

I am going to have to book the next conference they have therer so I can see this place for myself.

And being contrarian. Columbus is my least favorite of the major Ohio cities because it doesn't feel organic to me--with the others it's obvious why a major city would have grown there but Columbus is big because it just happens to be in the middle of the state. (I like Indianapolis even less, for the same reason.) But it's not a wasteland.

What's interesting about Case as a "regular Michigan punching bag" is that during a good chunk of the relevant period Case was the second best football program in Ohio, after Oberlin. OSU didn't really kick their program into gear until the teens--from 1907 to 1911 Case won five straight against them and after the 1911 win they held a 10-4-2 advantage all time. When the series stopped it was still only 11 wins to 10, OSU--I wonder if Case is considered a junk win when Ohio beats them, since they only did it half the time? And I wonder the same about Oberlin, which was beating Case like a drum during those very years OSU couldn't win against them (7-0-1 from 1906-1913).

In retrospect maybe it seems obvious which were the junk wins, but before WWI no one would ever have guessed that Case and Oberlin were destined for a century of D3 obscurity and Ohio State was destined to become a great football program.

A column about the "junk wins" from CFB's early days could have been interesting, but Forde was too busy thinking his lame jokes were the wittiest japes of the season. "Something called Physicians & Surgeons of Illinois" is now known as the University of Illinois at Chicago. Case Institute of Technology (now part of Case Western Reserve) was a prestigious school - it was where the Michelson-Morley experiment was performed and, as Yeoman noted, a solid football program.

Worst of all to me, Forde abbreviates the California Institute of Technology as "Cal Tech." It is Caltech and always has been. He should get an editor and maybe do some research next time.

While they were facing turn-of-the-century powerhouses like Lansing High School (twice) and the Michigan Freshman (4 times), we were fattening ourselves with 119-0 wins over Michigan Agricultural College.

I think the only deep ball in this game was out of an I-Form to a double-covered Jeremy Jackson. Gotta loosen those guys up—yeah, you might turn the ball over if you bomb it deep but if you're just punting in three plays anyway…

By any definition of 'deep ball' the pass where Gardner was wide open and dropped was a long pass. They also ran a vertical to Gardner in the first half where the DB fell down in front of him.

On a looser definition of long pass, Dileo averaged 22 yards per on 4 catches with only YAC on one of those.

There was even another verticial to Jackson, again double covered, that may have been a throw away on the second to last possession.

The bitching about Borges' playcalling is going to continue, no matter what.

Looking at the picture pages referenced in this post, I see someone analyzing a play that either missed something, or doesn't know what they are talking about. The post on BWS titled "Running into a brick wall" is flawed, and actually acquits Borges.

Here is the true breakdown of that play--using the same frames--and why the play action passes that so many lemmings are calling for wouldn't have been as simple, safe, or effective as everyone seems to think:

Frame 1. State is has a standard 4-3 look with two deep safeties. The claim that MSU's safeties are "cheating" is ridiculous. The safeties are about 9 yards deep (one might be 8 yards deep instead of 9) which is standard on a first-and-ten unless you're playing an air raid type of offense, which we are not. You might argue that 10 yards is more "standard" if you've been coached a lot, but the difference isn't huge, esp. considering our downfield passing ability. The "cheating" simply isn't there...the LOLB is positioned a step back and a step wide to help cover Gallon if there's a quick pass to the slot and Kwiatkowski if he should ever run a route (which he did in this game and caught a pass for a first down--more on that later). That OLB is also covered by a safety. THERE ARE NO CHEATING SAFETIES IN THIS FRAME. Just because you say something, doesn't make it true.

Frame 2. You'll notice that as Gallon motions, the safeties essentially switch roles; the safety on the side Gallon is running to steps back (to help cover Gallon's route behind the OLB) and the safety that no longer has a slot receiver in front of him takes ONE step forward; he's still 8 yards behind the LOS, and the other safety is 9 yards back.

Frame 3. The snap has happened. Safety Isaiah Lewis is keying on Gallon and moving outside to cover; Denicos Allen is cheating outside in case Denard gives. Fortunately, Denard reads correctly and does NOT give to Gallon. There is absolutely no doubt that the LBs are moving toward the LOS, but the TE is blocking and covered by Drummond and Fitz is five yards behind the LOS--so there's nothing for them to cover over the middle. The safeties? They are NOT committed to the run yet. Lewis is moving diagonally toward Gallon, but is definitely NOT committed to Denard. The other safety (Drummond) is reading the ball and the TE.

Frame 4. This frame is key, because it shows that State is still ready for run or pass. Drummond is moving to attack the hole, because the only cover responsibility he could likely have now is Fitz. Kwiatkowski is engaged (and not much of a threat) and Drummond is still 8 yards deeper than him. Roundtree is blocking on the outside and has Adams on him. Dennard is on Gardner. Lewis is on Gallon. Yes, they are in one-on-one coverage, but everyone is covered. While Lewis has moved up, he's still almost 10 yards deeper than Gallon, and can definitely cover if he needs to.

Frame 5. State's D-Line has gotten a yard of penetration. Three of our O-Line plus TE Kwiatkowski are handling State's D-Line; Schofield has made a nice combo block and is on Bullough; Mealer has moved to the second level to block Allen, who is trying to get back into the play after cheating outside on Gallon. If Fitz blocks Chris Norman, Denard is one-on-one with Drummond (who is highlighted in the red box). You will notice (if you're being objective and not just trying to bitch about Borges) that Lewis and Dennard could still cover if this play somehow turned into play action; Dennard is maintaining his outside position, Lewis hasn't come back inside yet and could cover Gardner if Dennard took Gallon's wheel. But Denard (our Denard, the one who can properly spell his name) has tucked the ball, and there won't be a pass here.

Frame 6. Denard sees Drummond coming down and cuts back into the trash. This is where the play breaks down. The play is designed to get Denard one-on-one. The play achieves that. If Denard can't beat the safety one-on-one, he should look to bounce outside and take his chances against a well-blocked Rush and/or an unblocked Adams (Roundtree is coming down to handle the safety). If 'Tree had been able to get to Drummond, this play could have been a TD. If Denard beats Drummond at the hole, this play could have been a TD. If Denard bounces outside he could have been one-on-one with Adams. There are lots of good possibilities here. Denard's choice didn't enable any of them, and State's defense is very assignment-sound, making Denard's job difficult. But let's get back to the idea that a play pass would have worked here...Even in this frame, Dennard (MSU CB) is still cheating towards Gallon if Denard should somehow untuck the football and get into a position to throw (which is damn near impossible at this point).

Frame 7. Even in the final frame, where Denard is under a heap of felons, Dennard is still keying on Gallon. There was no easy play pass here, folks.

The truth about this play is that it's actually well-blocked, and well read. Denard's choice to bounce into the pile was a bad one. Could he have beaten Drummond at the LOS? I don't know. Would bouncing outside toward 'Tree have worked? I don't know. But every defender is either blocked our accounted for except for one. That's how a running play is supposed to work. Denard should have either hit that hole or bounced outside.

As far as the play pass goes, there's nothing easy there. Sure, I'd love to see an occasional shot downfield to Gallon, but that was covered and would have required a great throw by a QB who would have been under pressure from a safety coming free into the hole. That is our standard recipe for disaster around here, and Borges knows it.

Sorry guys, the easy play pass just wasn't there.

On the other hand, I would like to have seen a few more passes to Kwiatkowski. State clearly labeled him a blocker and didn't expect him to run routes. And, quite frankly, it's not his strength, so I'm talking maybe one or two more targets the whole game.

The bottom line is that Borges gave his critics exactly what they asked for on this play: Denard is allowed to be Denard, and had a well-blocked play where he needed to beat one defender to score. Unfortunately, that one defender did his job extremely well and made Denard's life difficult. There is no magic formula to beat an assignment-sound defense. Your choice is either have Denard throw the ball to WRs in one-on-one coverage while he's under pressure, or have him run. The critics said he should run. He ran. It didn't work.

I'm 100% positive that if Denard bailed on the run here and tried to throw the wheel to Gallon and that pass gets picked by Dennard and returned for a TD that the same critics are bitching about "trying to make Denard something he's not" and "didn't we learn at ND" and "why don't we just run the ball, it's worked for two games!"

Let's also remember that we attempted 29 passes in this game, and that we only completed 14. We don't have a throwing QB.

Borges can't win. If he calls plays that emphasize Denard's strengths, he gets critcized for being predictable. If he calls plays that require Denard to make decisions and throw good passes, we turn the ball over. Either way, the same people blame him. BTW, I am 100% positive that it's Hoke's job to determine our team's strategy, and that when people attack Borges, they should remember that Hoke has the final say and that's where the buck stops. Strangely, the same people that worship Hoke also attack Borges...